Panel Discussion: A Handmaid’s Tale

Panel Discussion: A Handmaid’s Tale

To coincide with Banned Books Week, a national celebration of the freedom to read, the Nahman-Watson Library at Greenfield Community College is sponsoring a panel discussion of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale.

The American Library Association first began tracking book challenges and bans in 1982, and in the decades since, The Handmaid’s Tale has been one of the most frequently challenged and banned books in America for its controversial depictions of religion, rape, and gendered violence. The story has also garnered renewed interest in the past year as Hulu released a television adaptation and protestors around the country donned the book’s iconic red robes and white bonnets to protest funding cuts to Planned Parenthood and laws restricting abortion rights in Texas, Ohio, and Missouri.

Panelists will include faculty members from GCC’s English, Science, and Social Science departments, discussing the book and its relevance to today from their own disciplinary perspectives and encouraging audience questions and participation.